Three Girls And A Leading Man (2 page)

Ginny flipped to the front cover.

“Nope. It’s a new release, though I
can’t believe a publisher would still accept something like this.”

“So you don’t stock it in your
store?” I asked. Ginny was the manager of a bookstore up in Rochester, a town
about twenty minutes away from our house. As a lifelong bookworm, it was the
perfect job for her.

Ginny snorted. “Hell no.”

“Well, I think maybe you should
keep an open mind,” Jen said, a glint in her eye. “You never know, you might
learn something useful from that book.”

I knew she was half kidding, but I
glared at her all the same. “Ha ha. Besides, it’s not like I’m exactly hurting
for dates. So they don’t stick around very long, who cares?”

“Yeah, ’cause you’re usually the
one telling them to get lost,” Ginny said.

She had a point. I guess I
subscribed to the quantity over quality philosophy when it came to guys. Sure,
I liked dating and meeting new people, and I had a special weakness for the
sensitive artist type, but I never saw a reason to keep the same guy around for
very long. There were so many more new ones out there just waiting for me to
get to them.

“Don’t you want a real boyfriend?”
Jen asked seriously. “I mean, I know you joke around about how useless men are,
but wouldn’t you want someone a little more permanent in your life?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” I asked.
When Jen continued to look skeptical, I pointed at her. “Don’t you ever get
bored with the same guy? Every single day, always the same?”

This was a mistake. Jen got that
dopey look on her face that she always wore when she talked about her
boyfriend, Matt. Admittedly, he was totally hot and quite a catch, but it was
still enough to make you gag.

“Look,” I said quickly, hoping to
head her off before she got too engrossed in whatever Matt-related fantasy was
making her eyes go all glazed over like that. “I’m glad you both have permanent
guys, if that’s what you want. I’m happy that you’re happy. But I haven’t yet
met a man that I could count on. So what’s the point in worrying about it?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw
Ginny give me a meaningful look, which I ignored. “Look, let’s drop it, okay?
Jen, tell me about work. Any fun parties on the horizon?”

As Jen began to tell us about the
next wedding she was planning, I tried to quell the uncomfortable feeling in my
stomach. I wasn’t interested in a more permanent relationship with a guy. I
really wasn’t.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t shake
Ginny’s knowing glance for the rest of the meal.

Chapter Three

On the following Thursday, I got
home from work to find Tina laying stock-still in the living room, flat on her
back on the hardwood floor. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing in an
exaggerated, even way.

“Hey,” I said, not even bothering
to ask her what she was doing. Her answer would probably only confuse me
anyhow.

“Hello, Annie,” she said in her
airy-fairy voice. “Please try not to disturb me; I’m very focused right now.”

I rolled my eyes silently and
proceeded down the hall to my bedroom. I couldn’t worry about crazy Tina right
now. I had my audition tomorrow and I was way behind in my prep work.

I slipped into some comfortable
clothes and turned soft classical music on my computer. Music always helped me
to focus and get in a relaxed mood. I pulled my monologue book from my purse
and lay flat on my bed, reading through the lines and absorbing as much as I
could. Once I felt comfortable with the material, I stood in the middle of my
room and tried to block out some movement—nothing major, just a few
things to give me focus and help keep me loose.

By then I was feeling pretty good
about the entire process. The monologue I had chosen was really good; it let me
be funny and emotional in equal measure. Since Jenner’s show was brand new, no
one really knew what the feel of it would be. It was really important for me to
show my range.

Once I had my blocking down, I was
feeling pretty immersed in my character. It was a feeling that I loved, the
entire reason I forced myself to work so hard, always slogging away at these
auditions and going through so much rejection. This feeling of my own
personality giving way, the feeling of truly becoming my character is what kept
me coming back for more.

I smiled at myself in the mirror,
allowing myself a short moment of pride, before hitting it again from the beginning.
My plans were disrupted though—at that moment I heard loud, rhythmic
chanting in some unrecognizable language coming from the living room. I
groaned. Tina was doing something else crazy out there.

I looked over at my clock and was
shocked to find that I had been at it for almost two hours. I decided it was
time to go get a snack and maybe give my roommate a taste of her own medicine.

I sauntered into the kitchen,
completely ignoring whatever she was doing in the living room. Instead I
started loudly singing Britney Spears to myself—it was the most annoying
thing I could think of. I heard the chanting pause, and then stop altogether,
and I grinned as I pulled a bag of potato chips down from the top shelf.

“Excuse me,” Tina said, appearing
in the doorway. She was dressed in her normal get-up of black leggings and a
flowing tunic. Multiple scarves and bangles dangled from her neck. “You’re
really disturbing the vibes in this house with that garbage.”

“What garbage is that, Tina?” I
asked innocently.

“The singing,” she said, losing her
earth child demeanor and allowing her irritation to show through. I grinned
again. I loved it when her fake hippie persona cracked.

“Sorry about that,” I said. “But
while we’re on the subject, did you ever think that your chanting might be
disturbing
me
? I have a really big
audition tomorrow.”

“My chanting benefits everyone in
this house,” Tina said, her misty voice returning. “Seriously, Annie, I would
think that you would thank me. I improve the aura of this house tremendously.
Ugh, if you could only see what it looked like when I moved in here.”

I rolled my eyes. “It looked a lot
cleaner before you moved in here,” I said, gesturing around the kitchen that
was now cluttered with dishes, though it had been spotless before Jen and I
left for work. “Is picking up after yourself too mundane for someone with your
abilities for aura cleansing?”

She glared at me. “You just have no
respect for the vibrations that I effect on a daily basis. It’s sad really. For
a supposed artist you are very closed-minded.”

“What can I say, Tina? You’re one
of a kind.” I struggled to control my temper. “Regardless, I have a lot of work
to do, and I would really appreciate it if you kept it down. Or, you know,
left. That would work for me, too.”

She turned around and stomped off
so quickly that her scarves billowed out behind her. I sighed. Jen would be mad
at me if she knew I had been so mean to Tina. We did need her for rent.

Ever since Ginny had married Josh
and moved out, it’d been tough for us to make ends meet. Jen quitting her job
at a high-end event-planning firm in order to open up shop with her friend Kiki
hadn’t helped our situation much—not that I was complaining about that.
Jen was so much happier now that she was working with Kiki.

I brought my chips and a pop out to
the now vacated living room and sat down on the couch, wondering when Jen was
going to be home. When she had worked at her old firm, I would know not to
expect her before dinner most nights. She worked herself sick there, always
trying to get ahead and prove herself. When Kiki’s family hired the firm to
plan her mega-platinum wedding, I was worried Jen might actually have a
breakdown. As it was, she got totally overwhelmed and almost completely ruined
Ginny and Josh’s wedding in the process.

I know she still felt terrible
about it, even though she had managed to salvage the event at the last minute.
When she told us she was quitting her job and starting up with Kiki, who had
become a good friend during the wedding planning process, it felt like I was
getting my old friend back. So far, things had been going okay for them, no
doubt helped along by the fact that Kiki was totally loaded and knew a lot of
other rich people in desperate need of help in throwing parties.

I finished off my chips and stood
up, stretching. There was no sound coming from Tina’s bedroom upstairs. Maybe
she had taken my advice and left after all. I figured I may as well use the
peace and quiet to make some headway on my monologue.

I was going to nail this audition
if it killed me.

Chapter Four

‘Are you a working
girl? The office can be a great place to meet your dream guy! You spend most of
your day at work, so to discount it as a man-meeting opportunity would be
foolish. Plus, if you are privy to a man’s work habits you’ll be able to
determine how likely he is to be a good provider! While it might be tempting to
neglect your early morning toilette when in a rush to get to work, I can’t
stress enough the importance of always looking your best. You never know when
you might meet Mr. Right!’ —
The
Single Girl’s Guide to Finding True Love

“Sandra, put that
down
.”

“But I want mine to be pink!” the
eight-year-old beside me whined, her hand once again drifting toward the bottle
of hot pink dye.

“I don’t care,” I said, reaching
forward to move the bottle out of her grasp. “We’re doing one color at a time.
I’ve told you that. Several times.”

“Fine,” she pouted, grabbing her
bottle of blue dye and squeezing liberally all over the t-shirt in front of
her.

I turned my attention back to
Justin, who was making a terrible mess out of his tye-dye project. “Buddy,” I
told him. “I think that’s enough green. Maybe go for something lighter.”

Justin looked up at me and grinned,
showing that he had somehow managed to get dye all over his face, despite my
best efforts to keep the kids well-covered in smocks and gloves. I sighed.
“Better get you into the bathroom,” I told him, gingerly taking his hand.

“Chris?” I called down the table to
my co-worker. He looked up at me and I had to laugh. He looked sweaty and
irritated and totally not into the fact that he was spending his Saturday
morning helping the kids in the theater camp tye-dye. “I’m taking Justin
inside. Keep an eye on Sandra, okay?” I looked down at the little girl, whose
hand was once again reaching for the pink dye. “She’s having a bit of trouble
listening,” I said, an edge to my voice. She looked up at me and smiled
sheepishly. It was a good thing she was so cute—otherwise Sandra would
annoy the crap out of me.

I took Justin back inside the
theater, sighing in relief at the cool air. I steered him over to the boys
bathroom and set him up at the sink with soap. “Scrub your hands and face,
okay?”

I walked back out into the theater
lobby and collapsed into a chair. I was exhausted. My audition for Jenner
Collins’ show had been the night before. To be honest, I think I nailed it. I
don’t like to brag, but I felt really, really good about that audition. To
celebrate, Ginny and Josh had taken me out for dinner, where I had enjoyed a
few too many vodka cranberries.

In retrospect, that was a big
mistake. Saturday morning theater camp was never an easy task, especially when
it was this hot outside, but add a hangover and a killer headache and I was
desperately hurting.

“Annie?”

I spun around and saw Grayson, a
slightly senior co-worker, standing in the doorway to the stairs. I hadn’t
realized he’d been up in the office, but I shouldn’t be surprised. Though our
job titles were nearly identical, Grayson had a tendency to act like he owned
this place. It was totally annoying.

“Why are you inside?” he asked. “I
thought you were running camp.”

I tamped down a flash of
irritation. Grayson always talked to me this way; like he was constantly
judging my intentions. His bossiness got old really fast.

“I had to bring Justin in,” I told
him, pointing to the bathroom. “He got some dye on his face. Chris and Maureen
are still outside with the kids.”

He just nodded as she turned to go.
“I have some stuff for you to do in the office,” He said over his shoulder.
“Make sure you stop by after the kids leave.”

Once he was gone, I swore under my
breath. I was not scheduled for office hours today. Why did he always assume I
would just be at his disposal? Where did he get off bossing me around in the first
place? I didn’t get paid enough for this shit.

“All done!” Justin said proudly,
appearing in the doorway to the bathroom and holding up his clean hands. I
looked at him closely. I could definitely make out a few smudges of green
around his mouth, but I guess it was better than nothing. “Alright, buddy,” I
sighed, taking his hand again. “Let’s go see what mess Sandra has made in the
last five minutes.”

***

Two hours later I collapsed in my
desk chair. The kids had finally all left, though several of the parents had,
of course, been late. Most of the kids in our program were from this
neighborhood, which meant that most of them came from single-parent homes. Most
days, I was just happy that their parents could get them here at all.

I looked down at the pile of crap
Grayson had left for me to finish before he left. He wanted me to work on a
program proposal for the local high schools. Great. Just what I felt like
doing.

Before I could get started, my cell
phone rang. I looked at the screen and groaned. My mother.

“Hey, Mom,” I said, closing my
eyes.